Citroen plays it safe with C4

The new French hatch is designed to be more pedestrian-friendly, writes ANDREW HEASLEY.

Citroen plays it safe with C4

27 April 2005

Behind the wheel of Citroen's latest small hatch, the C4, is a thoroughly enjoyable place to be: it's a car chock-full of features and handles respectably with French panache but, dare we say, Japanese sensibilities.

At about the size of a Mazda3, the C4 hits the showrooms in two guises: a five-door hatchback and a two-door liftback coupe.

It comes with strong safety credentials: five stars in Euro NCAP tests for occupant protection and, for the first time, four stars for pedestrian safety. Behind the bumper skin lies a foam pad to soften the blow. The bonnet, devoid of "hard points" is designed to "lift" pedestrians, rather than have them fall under the car. The windscreen is angled compatibly to minimise head injury, and even the wiper blades are designed to be snag-free.

Other in-built safety features include stability and traction control, anti-lock brakes with brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution, and front, side and curtain airbags.

Later this year, Citroen's lane departure warning system can be optioned. It uses under-bumper cameras to detect straying across lanes above 80 km/h and activates a buzzer felt through the seat frame on the side where the drifting has occurred.

Drivers get Citroen's new fixed-hub steering wheel, allowing the fitment of an asymetrical airbag.

The speedo and other readouts are housed in an LCD panel atop the centre console, backlit by sunlight, to aid readability.

The cars Drive sampled were fitted with an optional $1500 panoramic glass roof, which stretches from windscreen to the back hatch glass, and $3000 of leather. There's a roller blind that can be extended like a normal fabric headlining in a car for some shade on a hot day.

The coupe's 2.0-litre, 130 kW/202 Nm VTS engine with a five-speed manual box offered quick changes on the way up, but the occasional baulk when downchanging quickly from fourth to second. The engine needs revving to keep it in the power band.

The seating and visibility was good (the glass roof aids reading street signs in urban areas), offering relaxed and comfortable motoring.

But the C4 is more than the sum of its parts. As a whole, the car is a product of 21st-century thinking. The range starts from $25,990.